The “Ride Wit Me” songwriter doesn’t disagree with the theory and clarified that Nike did chip in during the early days of his career to thank him for promoting the brand. In an interview with Complex’s Sneaker Shopping, The Rapper & RnB Singer, Nelly spoke about some of his favorite shoes including the Nike Air Force 1s, which were long theorized to have been revived in popularity thanks to the St. Louis rapper’s 2002 hit single “Air Force Ones.”
According to the Interview with Complex’s Sneaker Shopping, Nelly said “Let me tell you something … everybody that got Nike shoe deals need to be thanking us right now because we opened Nike’s eyes to a lot of that,” Nelly said at the three-minute mark. “At that time they weren’t doing it. They were basically on some, ‘they’re gonna win regardless." Now, did they donate? "Yes, they did donate some to the tour. They did sponsor some of the things for the tour because one of our tours we came out we had a big Air Force 1 that used to go across the stadium and things like that, which was really dope. They did load us. I didn’t know it was a limited time, you know?"
He added: “But when we first started rocking Air Force 1’s they were $59.99, when we did the song, eight months later they were $100 … Now we ain’t get no residuals so hollar at your boy.” Nelly has suggested he’s partially responsible for the price hike of Nike Air Force 1s in the early 2000s. Watch Video for the full recap of the interview with Complex’s Sneaker Shopping.
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